DATE: The date of Mark has been variously placed between A.D. 57 and 63.

THEME: The scope and purpose of the book are evident from its contents. In it Jesus is seen as the mighty Worker, rather than as the unique Teacher. It is the Gospel of Jehovah's "Servant the Branch" Zechariah 3:8 as Matthew is the Gospel of the "Branch. . .unto David" Jeremiah 33:15 .

Everywhere the servant character of the incarnate Son is manifest. The key verse is Mark 10:45 . "For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister." The characteristic word is "straightway," a servant's word. There is no genealogy, for who gives the genealogy of a servant? The distinctive character of Christ in Mark is that set forth in Philippians 2:6-8 .

But this lowly Servant, who emptied Himself of the "form of God," "and was found in fashion as a man," was, nevertheless, "the mighty God" Isaiah 9:6 as Mark distinctly declares ( Mark 1:1 ) and therefore mighty works accompanied and authenticated His ministry. As befits a Servant-Gospel, Mark is characteristically a Gospel of deeds, rather than on words.